Vehicles: Page

It’s Not Cast in Stone

It usually happens like this: your dealership finance & insurance manager places a new lender agreement on your desk for you to sign. Despite the fact that you have 67 other signed agreements, this new one is a must-have lender. Their rates are 25% lower than anyone else, they're buying everything, they approve deals no one else would buy, or their relationship with a local credit union will send

By BRYAN DORFLER • Nov. 1, 2003

Turbodiesel Battlefield

It was curious placement for two rival automotive suppliers at this month's Frankfurt Motor Show. Standing in adjoining booths on the second level of Hall 5 were two parts makers that have staked out turf in Europe's bustling market for diesel fuel injectors: Siemens VDO Automotive Corp. and Delphi Corp. Siemens was the first three years ago to incorporate quick-firing piezo (pronounced pee-AY-tso)

By Tom Murphy • Oct. 1, 2003

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 stories from WardsAuto

Automakers are evaluating their long-term strategies, revisiting their product mix, and approach to both retail and manufacturing approach along the way.

By WardsAuto staff

DuPont Textiles Now Invista

DuPont Textiles & Interiors (DTI) changes its name to Invista to better differentiate it from parent company DuPont. Steve McCracken, president of DTI, will stay on as president of Invista. In February 2002 DuPont first announced the creation of DTI as a wholly-owned subsidiary and its intention to separate it from DuPont. Last August DTI said it was in exclusive negotiations with subsidiaries of

Oct. 1, 2003

10 Best Engines 2003

It's always nice to have a pickup around. It's doubly nice when it's powered by the baddest pickup engine in the business. The Chrysler Group relegated its light-pickup competitors to the back seat this year when it offered the new 5.7L Hemi Magnum OHV V-8 in its half-ton Ram pickup. The Hemi's 345 hp and 375 lb.-ft. (508 Nm) of torque squashes General Motors Corp.'s 5.3L OHV V-8 and even newer V-8s

By Bill Visnic • Oct. 1, 2003

Fumes to Fuel

DEARBORN, MI A Ford Motor Co. pilot project that uses paint fumes to generate electricity portends a safe return to solvent-based paints coveted for superior performance and lower cost the auto maker says. Fumes-to-Fuel, a system undergoing tests in the paint shop of the auto maker's Dearborn Assembly Plant, collects volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from solvent-based clear-coat emissions. Currently,

By Eric Mayne • Sept. 1, 2003

NADA Joins Noble Effort

The National Automobile Dealers Association has joined a safety campaign that's near and dear to me: getting motorists to use seat belts, even if it means slapping them with traffic tickets. Only 20 states have primary seat-belt laws on their books, notes NADA Chairman Alan Starling, a Florida dealer. Seat belt use in these states is significantly higher than in states with secondary seat-belts laws,

By Nat Shulman • Sept. 1, 2003

On the Outside Looking In - Warily

They are eyewitnesses to the auto industry's greatest triumphs those miraculous moments when a vehicle design preserves life in the face of certain, horrible death. Their catch-all designation is emergency responder. And when violent collisions leave motorists trapped, they are tasked with shredding the vehicles so painstakingly shaped by automotive engineers. Extrication, they call it. Depending

By Eric Mayne • Aug. 1, 2003

Time Trial

When the Ford GT goes into production next year, it will boast the industry's first interior constructed from Azdel SuperLite, project insiders say. The original Ford GT was a racecar, so J Mays Ford Motor Co. group vice president-design demanded the interior of its descendant reflect this heritage. And it had to be done in 12 months. Suddenly, engineers became harried pit-crew members. But instead

By Eric Mayne • Aug. 1, 2003

A Definite Probably

Once and for all, will the U.S. use diesel engines in its passenger vehicles, and at least start to parallel Europe's breakneck acceptance of the once-derided diesel? Equally important, can auto makers exploit significant numbers of diesels in the U.S., given the regulatory and marketing challenges even the most passionate proponents admit diesels face? The answer according to participants at the

By Bill Visnic • July 1, 2003

JCI Minority Buy to Increase by $50M

No matter what happens with affirmative action programs in the U.S, interiors and battery supplier Johnson Controls Inc. will continue to accelerate its purchases from minority and women-owned businesses, says CEO John M. Barth. JCI expects to increase such purchases by $50 million this year. Two lawsuits challenging the University of Michigan's use of race as part of an admissions policy aimed at

July 1, 2003

10 Best Engines 2003: Long-Term Introduction

It didn't take Ward's editors long to decide which of 2003's 10 Best Engines winners should be the subject of a year-long test: No engine launched for the '03 model year had the singular impact of the 5.7L Hemi Magnum V-8 from DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group. The all-new Hemi, as everyone now knows, borrows from the renowned Hemi V-8 of the 1950s and 1960s that burned rubber into the public consciousness

By Bill Visnic • July 1, 2003

Bumpers Abound

Alcan Inc. begins construction of a $4 million bumper-system facility in Novi, MI, that also will serve as the aluminum supplier's North American automotive headquarters. Construction of the 52,000-sq.-ft. (4,830-sq.-m) facility is under way, with the building slated for completion in October, equipment arriving in November and engineering, sales and administrative personnel relocating from Farmington

July 1, 2003

Best Engines Long-Term Wrapup

When Ward's selected Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s signature VQ V-6 as one of its 10 Best Engines of 2002, the VQ became the only engine to win a Best Engines trophy every year since the award's inception in 1995. We didn't need confirmation the VQ remains the market's benchmark V-6, but a year with it powering Nissan's outstanding Infiniti G35 cemented the perception. First: scintillating performance.

By Bill Visnic • June 1, 2003

ZF Expands North American Tech Center

ZF Friedrichshafen AG breaks ground on a 148,000-sq.-ft. (13,750-sq.-m) expansion of its North American Technical Center in Northville, MI. The expansion will make room for ZF and Sachs engineers to combine operations under one roof to speed component development. When the facility is complete in October 2004, it will mark the closure of the Sachs Technical Center in Troy, MI, and will house 500 employees.

June 1, 2003

Hybrids a Bridge to Next-Gen EVs

The powerful California Air Resources Board was, at press time, preparing to deconstruct its long-held and highly controversial mandate requiring auto makers to sell zero-emitting electric vehicles in the state. But EVs apparently remain CARB's vision of the ultimate in personal transportation. Chief Deputy Executive Officer Tom Cackette says the agency sees today's hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs)

By Bob Brooks • May 1, 2003

Denso Ready for Piezo

Denso Corp. says it will produce diesel common-rail systems using piezo electric injectors in 2005. The next-generation fuel injection system is under development and a specific customer cannot yet be named, says Douglas Patton, senior vice president-engineering group of Denso International America Inc. Denso's competitor, Siemens VDO Automotive, pioneered the high-pressure, lightning-fast piezo electronic

By Christie Schweinsberg and Tom Murphy • April 1, 2003

Sparking Interest

For 13 years, Ed VanDyne has been trying to light a fire under the auto industry establishment. A SmartFire, to be precise. Finally, interest is heating up. The ignition system today has become a commodity, says VanDyne, president and CEO of Adrenaline Research Inc., developer of SmartFire plasma ignition control software. The design is 100 years old. Yes, it's been refined. But it's 100-year-old

By Eric Mayne • April 1, 2003

Look Ma, No Cam!

Electrohydraulic valve operation that eliminates camshafts and associated hardware is widely seen as the next big watershed in engine development. Lotus Engineering, a division of Lotus Cars Ltd. in Norfolk, U.K., now could be considered the industry leader in this field. The company says it has a system ready for production, a Tier One supplier to make it and a major OEM to buy it. Lotus is not ready,

By David Scott • March 1, 2003

Diesel JV for VW, Siemens?

Siemens VDO Automotive AG is talking with Volkswagen AG about building a diesel engine plant together that would use Siemens' high-tech diesel injectors. The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports the factory would involve a E500 million ($542 million) investment, with the German state of Saxony contributing as much as E150 million ($163 million). Siemens and VW confirm the talks

March 1, 2003

Abraham Pumps Up Hydrogen

Washington has solved the age-old chicken-and-egg riddle as it applies to fuel cell technology and an infrastructure for hydrogen delivery. Which should come first, the vehicle, or the system that supports it? Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham asks the Detroit Economic Club. Our answer is both. We've concluded that unless we work on parallel tracks, developing the vehicle and the infrastructure concurrently,

March 1, 2003

Seeing, Being Seen

Valeo SA, one of Europe's top suppliers, has ambitious plans to consolidate its North American engineering facilities into a single that likely will be built within two years, the company says. The supplier now has five facilities scattered about metro Detroit employing 700 people. The locations include Livonia, Rochester Hills, Troy and Dearborn, and the facilities are dedicated to developing products

By Tom Murphy • Jan. 1, 2003

Toyota, Honda Lease First Fuel Cell Vehicles

IRVINE, CA Turning over the keys for two production fuel cell hybrid vehicles (FCHVs) to the chancellors of two universities here represents the launch of the hydrogen era for automobiles, says Jim Press, chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. On the same day, Honda Motor Co. Ltd. leases a production FCHV to the city of Los Angeles. In Japan, Honda and Toyota lease additional FCHVs

By Herb Shuldiner • Jan. 1, 2003

JCI’s New Laboratory

HOLLAND, MI Johnson Controls Inc. opens a new and improved Advanced Materials and Process Engineering (AMPE) lab at its technical center here. The facility began humbly in 1994 with a small room and two pieces of equipment and has evolved into a state-of-the-art, spacious laboratory packed with equipment capable of analyzing the performance and compatibility of materials used in vehicle interiors.

By Christie Schweinsberg • Jan. 1, 2003

Texaco Ovonic Bullish on Batteries

Texaco Ovonic Battery Systems sees a huge potential market for the same sort of automotive storage batteries that once were seen as a critical component for now-defunct EVs. In a word, that market is hybrids. President and Chief Operating Officer Thomas Neslage says in an interview that Troy, MI-based Texaco Ovonic a 50/50 joint venture between oil giant ChevronTexaco and ECD Ovonics, the company

Jan. 1, 2003

Yazaki Back at SAE

After withdrawing from the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress and Exposition in January 2000, Yazaki North America Inc. announces at the Convergence electronics conference it will return as an exhibitor in 2003. It was great news for the SAE. Its World Congress has suffered a dramatic loss of major Tier 1 exhibitors and seen a fall-off in attendance from its traditional core audience of

By Drew Winter • Nov. 1, 2002